Most Read Reviews On Bookbag

These are, quite simply, the Bookbag reviews that have been read by the most people. There's an interesting spread of genres and styles, including one of the very few books we loved to hate. The ever-wonderful Roald Dahl and Saint Delia manage to get two books each in the Top Ten, and Delia's How To Cheat At Cooking is holding firm in 11th too. With the most-read at the top, these are the most popular reviews we've written. We hope you've enjoyed the reviews, and that they've been useful. Most importantly, we hope you've enjoyed the books as much as we have.

1. A good basic reference book for any home, providing fool-proof recipes for any occasion, although some sections are a little dated. It won't provide inspiration or teach you how to adapt recipes to use seasonal foods though.
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2. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time is a much talked-about book. Ignore the different releases - one for children and another for adults. They are irrelevant. It's a serious children's book although adults could also take something from it. Beginning as a whodunnit, Curious Incident transforms into a powerful work on the family and on fitting in. Bookbag thinks it's a tour de force.
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3. The story of two brothers during the First World War, Private Peaceful is probably for the older primary school child or the young teenager. It is emotionally challenging, but it would suit any young reader interested in history from a human perspective. Despite the uncomfortable truths contained within, there is something about Morpurgo that neither patronises nor shields. It deserves every accolade.
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4. Skellig is David Almond's debut novel. With it, he earned the reputation of being the magical realist for children. It's a wonderful book, but a challenging one and even the most confident readers would probably need to be at least ten before they were ready for it. It's a sensuous, magical book and a fantastic introduction to David Almond's work.
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5. Even the normal devotees of self-help and devourers of New Ageish pseudo-scientific, pseudo-spiritual advice should keep away from this one: it contains about 4 points of advice on positive thinking repeated in a sequence of tautologies ad nauseam and wrapped in an astonishingly stupid amount of utter balderdash. Calling it pseudo-scientific is an insult to pseudo-science. Most 'scientific sounding' sentences there are not only not true, they don't even make sense. Keep away.
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6. For children and adults, Boy will make everybody laugh, as does everything written by Roald Dahl. More than that though, it provides rich and arresting detail and some of the inspirations for all those other, fictional stories written by the master. It goes some way towards explaining that disgust at the adult abuse of authority that pervades all of his books. Perhaps, with Boy, Dahl wanted finally to win the argument. Grown ups are naughty. You will love it. They will love it. Five stars.
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7. An analysis of the irrational nature of love and religion, 'Enduring Love' reads like a scary, suspenseful, thriller with strong characters and storyline with a stalker, based on well-researched condition of erotomania. Highly recommended.
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8. Bookbag could cheerfully read Jacqueline Wilson's kind, sharply observed kitchen sink dramas all day every day. This one explores the relationships between sisters and between teens and parents.
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9. A classic Roald Dahl story in which an unpleasant adult gets their deserved comeuppance, George's Marvellous Medicine is a Bookbag favourite. Short enough for sharing and accessible enough for newly confident readers, it's absolutely perfect in every way.
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10. A valuable guide to catering for the family and wider gatherings over the Christmas period. Expect fool-proof recipes but not first principles. It's a book I wouldn't like to be without though.
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